


What a Mess I'm Making

by platonicbullshit



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M, Waitress AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 14:51:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18741277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/platonicbullshit/pseuds/platonicbullshit
Summary: The glass bowls in the diner kitchen are hefty, and she relishes in the cool glass in her hands. She whisks together her sugar and spices, adding the strawberries when she’s content it’s well mixed. Her mother’s recipe pours from her fingertips without much thought, her hands going through the motions they’ve completed so many times before with so much ease, they’re practically moving on their own accord. She adds the filling to her prepared crust, and she thinks that she couldn’t stop the movement of her hands if she tried.





	What a Mess I'm Making

**Author's Note:**

> Well hello there. It's finals week and I definitely have multiple papers to be writing and exams to be studying for, as well as a WIP that I've been neglecting. So, obviously a perfect time to start a new WIP, right?
> 
> Yeah probably not, but this got me excited and I just started writing and here we are. I'm almost out of the woods school-wise so I should be able to write much more soon, so hopefully (fingers crossed, knock on wood, all that) you'll be seeing a lot more from me.
> 
> A bit of background on this piece, I'm a massive Waitress the musical fan, but I recently watched the movie for the first time, so this is kind of a mix of both. The plot doesn't follow either perfectly, but there's some dialogue that comes directly from the movie or musical and the titles are from songs from the musical.
> 
> With that being said, it's probably better to read this without any knowledge of either, because spoilers!! But I do highly recommend both, so... maybe read this first and then dive into the beautiful world of Adrienne Shelly and Sara Bareilles?
> 
> No matter what your experience with the masterpiece that is Waitress, enjoy!

The diner is dark and quiet when Tessa arrives. She moves silently through the little room, weaving around tables and booths, until she reaches the back and slips into the tiny baking kitchen. She flips on the lights and they flicker for a moment before filling the little room with artificial fluorescent light. She savors the rare moment of quiet stillness, closing her eyes and breathing in the scent of ingredients and stale air and hums softly to herself before getting to work.

She sets the oven to preheat and pulls out one of the dishes she’d had Kaetlyn prepare for her the previous night before closing. She can tell by the color and scent that this crust is going to be perfectly flaky, and she nods in satisfaction. A day of perfect pies, exactly what she needs.

The glass bowls in the diner kitchen are hefty, and she relishes in the cool glass in her hands. She whisks together her sugar and spices, adding the strawberries when she’s content it’s well mixed. Her mother’s recipe pours from her fingertips without much thought, her hands going through the motions they’ve completed so many times before with so much ease, they’re practically moving on their own accord. She adds the filling to her prepared crust, and she thinks that she couldn’t stop the movement of her hands if she tried.

The top crust comes out of the fridge, cold and flaky, and she takes care not to touch it too much for fear of it melting beneath her fingers. The crust stretches over the top of her pie and she works to prevent the holes she’s cut out of it from losing their perfectly round shape. After a brush of egg wash, she’s content to send her creation to the oven.

When the metal door is closed, Tessa gives herself a moment to breathe, dusting flour from her palms onto the apron tied around her waist, before she starts the process again.

++

“You can’t avoid me forever, Tessa!” Tessa grimaces as she hears her sister’s voice call out after her as she exits the diner’s little women’s restroom. She hopes no customers were in there.

It’s a day like any other. The bell over the door dings with every customer that comes and goes. Her patrons complain that their eggs are cold. She cringes every time she has to look at “Big Guy Strawberry Pie” in her messy scrawl across the blackboard that reads “Tessa’s Pie of the Day.” She could swear every tick of the clock on the wall in the main kitchen gets slower.

She pretends she doesn’t see the glare her sister shoots her across the floor when she leaves the restroom.

It’s when Kaetlyn shows up for her shift that Tessa knows she’s really not getting out of this.

Sure enough, Tessa watches as Jordan whispers something into Kaetlyn’s ear, patting the pocket of her apron, and the younger girl’s eyes light up. A maniacal grin spreads across Jordan’s face at Kaetlyn’s encouragement, and Tessa lets out a sigh of resignation. She supposes there’s nothing she can do but acquiesce, now.

She allows her sister and her friend to crowd her into the bathroom, raising her eyes at Jordan when she shoos a customer out and locks the door, but taking the little box she’s handed anyway.

“Tessa, it’s time to pee on a stick.” Jordan’s words are matter-of-fact, and although Tessa knows she’s going to take the test, she can’t resist the urge to fight back.

“I don’t want to know.”

“Come on, you’ve waited long enough.” Tessa’s not sure that’s true, she’s only a couple of weeks late, she doesn’t think she could have guessed anything was amiss much earlier than now. Nevertheless, she shuffles into the stall, hikes her dress up to her waist, and squats over the toilet.

“Kaetlyn, read the instructions,” Jordan orders, and Tessa thinks she must be trying to fill the silence because surely the other women can hear that she’s already peeing.

“Se puede saber la duracion de la-“

“English!” Tessa lets out a soft chuckle at Kaetlyn’s dedication, she has to admire the commitment the girl has.

“Oh! Do not insert the test stick into your vagina-“

“ _Thank you, Kaet!_ ” Tessa lets out a full snort as her sister cuts Kaetlyn off mid-instruction before tapping a quick knock onto the stall door. “You done in there, Tess?”

Tessa stands and pulls her dress straight before taking a moment to look at the little white, plastic stick in her hands. “Yeah.”

“Come on out, then!” Tessa opens the stall door and sets the stick on the counter, face down. She doesn’t want to wait three minutes for the line (God, please let it be a single line) to develop, much less watch it happen for three minutes. She sets about to washing her hands.

“Well?” Kaetlyn asks, her wide, doe eyes appearing over Tessa’s shoulder in the mirror. Tessa smiles gently at her.

“I don’t know yet, Kaet. Gotta wait the whole three minutes and all.”

“Right,” Kaetlyn murmurs, moving to lean against the sinks. Tessa absentmindedly hopes they’re not wet and leaving a spot on the girl’s uniform.

If the hours on the floor had crawled by all morning, the minutes in the bathroom are never ending. Tessa chews her bottom lip and rolls the edge of her apron with her hands so she doesn’t bite at her nails. The room is quiet, with just the tapping of Jordan’s foot on the tile and the steady drip-drip-drip of the leaky sink to fill the air.

Tessa jumps when a loud, thudding knock lands on the restroom door. She can tell it’s Cal, and she’s suddenly glad Jordan had the foresight to lock the door. Tessa knows he would have come barging in if she hadn’t, customers be damned.

“Where are all my waitresses?” He hollers through the door, his gruff voice loud enough that Tessa’s sure the entire diner can hear. “We’ve got customer’s who’re getting hungry out here!”

“Fuck off, Cal!” Jordan calls out in response, kicking the door. “We’re busy!”

Tessa can hear him grumbling, she’s sure there are some choice curse words in there, as he shuffles back to the kitchen. She thinks Jordan might growl after him, and Tessa can’t say she doesn’t share the sentiment. The man is infuriating at best.

Before any of them can say another word, the timer Tessa had set on her phone dings.

“Is that… does that mean the test is ready?” Kaetlyn asks, her eyes going wide. Tessa wonders if the weight of what’s happening is only just now hitting her.

“Yeah,” Tessa breathes, reaching for the stick on the counter. She flips it over and sends up a quick prayer to whoever might be listening that she’s faced with just one line. She scans the plastic in front of her before breathing out, “… Shit.”

++

The remainder of the day passes by in a blur. Where before the hours had crawled by, never ending, now Tessa could swear someone had pressed the fast forward button on the remote control to her life. It’s as she’s collecting the tip from her last table of the day, removing her apron and pulling on her sweater that the reality of what she’s about to go home to hits her.

“Are you okay, Tess?” Tessa’s head pricks up at her sister’s voice, surprised to find her standing in the doorway between the main kitchen and the little baking kitchen. Tessa attempts a smile, hoping it’s reassuring enough that her sister won’t worry too much.

“I’m fine, just inventing a pie in my head,” Tessa explains as she tucks her envelope of tips into her bag. “It’s called ‘I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby’ Pie.”

Jordan laughs, but Tessa can see the worry lining her sister’s face. For all her hard exterior, Tessa knows that Jordan cares about her wellbeing and wants nothing but the best for her. “Really, Tess, what are you going to do?”

Tessa sighs, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “I’m keeping it. But I’m not telling Earl.”

“Are you sure that’s the best idea? No one would judge you if-“

“I’m having this baby, Jo. I don’t, I couldn’t...” Tessa trails off as she thinks about the implications of her words. “I don’t want it, but it’s what I have to do.”

“Right. What you have to do.” There’s an edge to Jordan’s voice, and it makes Tessa sad. “How did this happen, Tess? I thought you didn’t sleep with Earl much anymore?”

“He got me drunk,” Tessa explains, and Jordan immediately nods in understanding,

“Oh, T, we’ve all made that mistake.” Jordan nods sagely. “But seriously, you have options-“

“This is happening, Jo.” Tessa cuts her sister off again. “No matter how any of us feel about it, it’s happening. Nothing we can do.”

Tessa’s sure her sister is about to argue when a loud, insistent honking fills the room. Tessa rolls her eyes before turning toward the door.

“Thank you, Jordan,” she says, reaching out to squeeze her sister’s hand. “For everything. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Jordan’s mouth is tight and Tessa knows she’s not done with this conversation, but she lets Tessa go, just squeezing her hand back and whispering a goodbye as Tessa passes. Tessa climbs into Earl’s old station wagon and waves to her sister, already mourning the caring awkwardness that had been replaced by pure frustration the moment Earl had arrived.

“Well, aren’t you gonna say hello?” Earl demands as he pulls out of the diner’s parking lot. Tessa sighs and sinks into the squishy seat. She immediately wants nothing more than to curl into a ball.

“Hi, honey.” She says unenthusiastically.

“And ask me how my day was?”

“How was your day, Earl?” Tessa repeats, looking out the window at the houses flying past.

“Better now that you’re here with me,” she’s not looking at him, but Tessa knows Earl is smirking to himself now. “How was your day, Tess? Where are my tips?”

He holds out a hand and Tessa bites back a retort about how they’re _her_ tips, actually, and he’s done nothing to deserve them, while she’s been on her feet all day.

But Earl’s hand waves around in front of her, and she knows it will get them no where except maybe the emergency room, so she digs the envelope out of her purse and puts it in his waiting palm and says nothing.

If it’s a few bills lighter than when she’d put it in her purse ten minutes earlier, well, what Earl doesn’t know won’t hurt him. And hopefully it won’t kill her.

++

Tessa has never liked going to the doctor’s office, and her disdain had only increased once her mother had suggested she begin seeing a gynecologist. The office is garish, all peeling pink wallpaper and faded posters about childbirth and models that look like they’d been tossed around like a football a few too many times.

But it’s the only office in town, and Tessa’s not willing to pay the bus fare all the way to London, and she’s been seeing Dr. Mueller since she was fifteen. No sense in changing things up now.

Although, maybe things are different now. She’s not coming to see Dr. Mueller for a standard checkup, not getting her birth control prescription renewed, no, she’s here for the parasite that has taken residence inside of her and will need intensive care for the next nine months.

Tessa bites back a groan and slumps in the uncomfortable waiting room chair. She thinks the other women in the waiting room, a couple with swollen belles and one attempting to restrain a young boy, send her glances with varying degrees of sympathy, but she can’t be bothered to really dissect and analyze their looks.

At last, the nurse stands from behind the desk and calls out, “Tessa Virtue?” Tessa climbs from her seat to follow the woman into the back room, careful to set the pie she’s carrying on the bed before stepping up onto the scale, and allows the nurse to take her vitals. She doesn’t relax again – or, return to her previous state of on-edge-but-less – until she’s alone in the room, dressed in a gown, perched on the bed with her pie clutched tightly on her lap.

If there’s one thing she can count on, it’s that Dr. Mueller will be excited to see Tessa’s brought her favorite kind of pie.

But when the knock falls on the door it’s heavy and insistent, not anything like Dr. Mueller’s typical light, lyrical rap. Tessa’s just wondering if the nurse had forgotten something when the door creaks open and a head of dark, short hair and a large, beak-like nose peaks around it.

And before Tessa can process, a young man, dressed in smart slacks and wearing a long white coat and sporting a stethoscope wrapped round his neck steps into the room. Tessa wonders if she actually lets out a surprised squeak or just thinks it, but based on the concerned look that crosses the man’s face, she’d bet she actually uttered it.

“Um, hi.” The man says, walking towards her and sticking out a hand. Tessa looks at it for a moment before looking back up into the man’s face and back down at his hand.

“You’re not Dr. Mueller,” is all she can say, both hands still gripping the metal pie tin sitting on her thighs. She watches the man’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallows and pulls his hand back towards his body, eventually tucking it into the pocket of his coat when it’s clear Tessa isn’t going to reciprocate the handshake he’d offered.

“No, no, I’m Dr. Moir.” The man says. _What kind of name is Moir?_ Tessa finds herself thinking, before she can shake herself out of it. “Dr. Mueller’s retired now, and I’m replacing her.”

“No,” Tessa says plainly, shaking her head. Her fingers flex around her pie tin. “No, you can’t be my doctor. Dr. Mueller is my doctor, has been since I was fifteen. I mean, she delivered me. You can’t be my doctor.”

“I’m very sorry, Mrs. Virtue, but Dr. Mueller isn’t seeing patients anymore. This will still be her practice, but I’m going to be the only practicing doctor. If that makes you uncomfortable, I’m sure we can work something out, I can give you some recommendations for other doctors…” The doctor trails off and it’s all Tessa can do to stare up at him in disbelief. Dr. Mueller retired? Only practicing doctor? Other recommendations?

Tessa’s head is spinning.

“I don’t…” She grasps for words, but they aren’t there when she reaches for them.

“We can figure that out in a bit, but for now maybe I could give you an exam? I believe we have some tests to run?” The doctor asks tentatively, as though concerned Tessa will bite his head off if he approaches to quickly.

“Okay,” she says quietly, finally placing the pie on the counter beside her and leaning back on the table. If she has to endure this, there’s no point putting it off, right?

The examination goes as normally as Tessa could expect, and the nurse returns to take her blood, and she wonders if this could actually work out.

“Why don’t you get dressed and meet me in my office?” Dr. Moir says on his way out of the room, and Tessa nods. When she’s alone once again, she dresses quickly, picks up her pie, and heads down the hall to the office that had for so long belonged to Dr. Mueller.

She knocks tentatively on the door and he waves her in, so she takes a seat across the desk from him, placing the pie on the wooden surface between them. She notices that a couple of the marshmallows decorating the top have started to droop, and she carefully pushes them back into place.

“Oh, you brought a pie.” Dr. Moir says, as though he’s only just now noticed. Tessa eyes him warily.

“It’s Mermaid Marshmallow. Dr. Mueller’s favorite.” Tessa explains, pushing the tin a bit further across the desk. The doctor just smiles at her and nods before turning back to his computer.

“Well, Mrs. Virtue, congratulations. You’re having a baby!” Dr. Moir grins at her and it’s wide and genuine and Tessa wants to reach out and force his cheeks back into place.

Instead, she looks down at the pie on her lap and groans softly. “Great.”

“I’m sorry, is there an issue?” She hates the soft tone that creeps into the doctor’s voice as he asks. She senses genuine concern, and it makes the hair on her arm prickle.

“I’m just not particularly excited to be a mom,” Tessa explains. “I don’t really want this baby.”

As soon as the words are out of her mouth she wonders if she shouldn’t have said them, if that was too much information for her first time meeting this man. The look on his face makes her think she’s overstepped, as his eyes go wide and his jaw hangs open slightly.

“Oh, well, I’m afraid we don’t offer those services here, but I could direct you to a clinic-“

“Oh, no, Dr. Moir. I’m keeping it. I’m just not enthusiastic about it.” Tessa is quick to correct. A look of confusion laced with relief crosses the doctor’s face, and Tessa can tell he’s trying to figure out how to ask for more detail. She sees no reason to explain, however, not thinking that this doctor whom she had met all of an hour ago needs to know the personal details of her married life. “It’s just, I’d rather not be congratulated about it.”

“Well then, uncongratulations.” Dr. Moir says. Tessa looks up at him at his words, searching for teasing or cruelty. She’s surprised that all she finds is understanding.

“Unthank you,” she says, and this time, when Dr. Moir smiles at her, she can’t help but smile back.

“So I’m going to prescribe you a pre-natal vitamin. Now, do you have any questions about pregnancy? Does, don’ts? Good foods and bad? Nurse Holly will give you a full list of what you can and can’t have on your way out but if you have any specific questions or concerns now, I can answer them.” Tessa just shakes her head. She hasn’t had many thoughts regarding pregnancy thus far, and she certainly hadn’t reached the point of concern. “Exercise? Sex?”

Tessa just about snorts and quips, “Well, I’m not doing much of either, so.”

She thinks Dr. Moir chokes on his breath at her comment, and she feels oddly proud.

“Well, uh, well then. I think we’re okay.” He manages through his coughs. Tessa grins at his attempt to compose himself. “Here’s your prescription, you can pick it up starting this afternoon. Other than that, I think you’re good to go. And don’t forget to pick up the list of good and bad foods from the nurse on your way out.”

“Thank you, Dr. Moir.” Tessa says as she stands.

“Of course, Mrs. Virtue. Have a nice day.” He stands as well, holding out a hand for her shake, and she finally accepts.

“You know what?” Tessa says, still holding his hand between them. “I’m going to leave this pie with you. Enjoy it.”

“Oh, uh, I’m actually off sugar right now,” Dr. Moir hangs his head sheepishly and fiddles with his tie with his free hand. “Trying to get into shape and all.”

A voice in the back of Tessa’s mind whispers that he doesn’t need it, the shape he’s in is perfectly attractive, but she shushes the thought as quickly as she can manage.

“You know, my mom used to say that there was no point in living life if you couldn’t enjoy it.” Tessa says, releasing the doctor’s hand and making no move to grab the pie from his desk. “Enjoy the pie, Dr. Moir.”

She turns toward the door before he can get another word in.

It’s as she’s in the hallway that she remembers a question that actually had been on her mind for the past week, and she turns on her heel to poke her head back in the door.

“Dr. Moir?” She asks, pointedly pretending she doesn’t notice the way his finger hangs out of the side of his mouth and her previously perfect pie is missing a chunk from the center.

“Yes, Mrs. Virtue?”

“How pregnant am I?” The question seems to catch him off guard, and Tessa giggles slightly as he coughs around the bite of whipped cream she’s sure just went down the wrong pipe.

“Uh, very pregnant.” He says, his brow furrowing. “There’s really only one degree of pregnancy.”

“No, I mean, how far along am I?” She laughs.

“Oh! Oh, uh, six weeks. Give or take.” He nods, giving the statement an air of finality.

“Thanks, Dr. Moir.” She says, turning to leave once again.

“You’re welcome, Mrs. Virtue.”


End file.
